The minister of state for aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has said that additional funds would be required to address some foundational issues at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja before the new terminal building could be completed and delivered.
Speaking during inspection tour of the airport on Tuesday, Sirika said the completion of the terminal facility was delayed because of a foundational issue which had altered the master plan of the airport.
He explained that the planning of the project did not envisage that the building would lead to additional works, power and water supply.
The minister added that it was also discovered that the building would block both the control and fire towers which would require relocation.
He said that additional work was also required to link it with the existing terminal as well as expanding the apron to accommodate bigger air planes.
He also attributed the delay in the completion of the project to insufficient capacity of the existing power and water supply in the airport to cater for the new building.
“All the challenges would result to requiring additional funding. The project is being funded through 500 million dollars loan from Chinese EXIM bank and 100 million dollars counterpart funding from Nigerian government. The quality of work is acceptable but the pace of work is not acceptable because this project should have been delivered by now.
“The contractor has told us some of the challenges he has been facing regarding some of the components of work and some additional works required for this project to be put into use.
“Unfortunately, some of these components are complex which would delay this job and some of them are from the foundation like that of the sewer and water.
“There is also the problem of the control tower blocking the access into the terminal apron and also the inadequate nature of the apron itself,” said Sirika.
